Vol 22 (2025) - Issue 3

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Farfetch Limited (in liquidation) and the Cross-Border Insolvency Regulations 2006 [2024] EWHC 3340 (Ch) (20 December 2024)

Synopsis
The English High Court (the 'Court') was asked to consider applications by Cayman liquidators for relief under Article 21 of the UNCITRAL Model Law on
Cross-Border Insolvency (as set out in Schedule 1 to the Cross-Border Insolvency Regulations 2006) (the 'Model Law').
The Joint Official Liquidators (the 'JOLs') of the Cayman Islands company, Farfetch Limited (the 'Company'), sought orders under the Model Law against three former members of the Company's senior management that each of them: – provide written responses to the JOLs' written questions;– attend an interview with the JOLs and their solicitors to be examined orally in relation to the Company's affairs on specified issues; and – produce any documents within specified categories concerning the Company's affairs which are in their possession or control.
The respondents contested the applications on various grounds, including an argument that a large body of documentation had been provided to the JOLs by the Company's former solicitors and which, the respondents argued, the JOLs had not yet digested.
After detailed consideration of the authorities, the Court ordered that the respondents provide written responses to the JOLs (subject to confidentiality restrictions) and that one of the respondents' mobile phones be imaged, but the Court declined to order any oral examination.